Recycling - where and how?

I thought I'd give some general directions for recycling, not just computers, but electronic equipment and other kinds of materials. Dave from RecycleIT in Frankton (0276295000) is the man to talk to if you've got some old computer equipment you're looking to get rid of. It doesn't matter whether or not it's working. He will reuse, recycle and/or strip computer equipment for parts, and can do pick-up's from your address.

Other electronics, like metal waste in general, can be taken into most metal recyclers and exchanged for a bit of pocket change. This includes items like dishwashers, stereos and rusty old heaters. As for the rest, here's places to take stuff:

• Batteries (car or other lead-acid types): Most metal recyclers will take these. You might have to ring around a bit.
• Batteries (lithium ion, household): Bunnings have drop-off boxes for recycling these.
• Clothing/Toys/Bikes/etc: I tend to drop off to the Sallies, but obviously there's Hospice shops, Red Cross, you name it.
• Clean rags/scrap material: The SPCA can always use these (they get used for cleaning cages), or a local car mechanic might need rags on an ongoing basis to get the grease off their hands.
• Food scraps: Know a pig farmer? Or, dig a compost hole next to your garden, line the sides and top with wood to keep the rats out, and dump in there. Feeds the worms and keeps the soil healthy.
• Cardboard/paper: The recycling collection services in the Waikato/Waipa will pick up a box of paper/cardboard approximately the size of your recycling bin, as well as what's in your recycling bin. Just flatten any boxes.
• General items/materials: Sometimes trademe is a useful place to dispose of stuff if it's valuable, but if it's not, Freecycle is an online recycling network where you can list stuff you want to get rid of, as well as requesting stuff you want. This can include anything from wooden pallets to computer monitors. The Hamilton group is here.

The main reason for writing this was the amount of good quality materials I see going to waste or left to rot in the rain whenever the inorganic recycling season starts locally. By comparison, with a very small amount of effort you can possibly save someone else a heck of a lot of time and energy.